Miners’ Families, UMWA Sue to Open Investigation

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/05/11/mine-workers-families-umwa-sue-to-open-investigation/

by Mike Hall, May 11, 2010

The Mine Workers (UMWA) union and families of victims killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster filed suit in federal court to open to the public interviews of safety officials and others now being conducted behind closed doors by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

UMWA President Cecil Roberts says the union was reluctant to file the suit. But after MSHA rejected the request to open the interviews, “we have been left with no choice.”

We believe it is imperative for the families of the victims of this tragedy to be able to hear the evidence that will be gathered in these interviews for themselves. We also believe that the workers—who will have to go back to work in that mine—must be allowed to have their designated representative in the interviews, asking questions and hearing testimony firsthand.

The Massey Energy mine, where 29 miners died in an April 5 explosion, was nonunion, but several miners have designated the UMWA as their representative, as federal regulations allow. MSHA says the hearings and many other other parts of the investigation will be open and transparent. But as Roberts says:

The interview process is perhaps the most critical step in the entire investigation. That is where those with fresh, first-hand knowledge of what the conditions were in the mine will be asked to tell investigators what they know.

FULL story at link.

[midnight]

1. It should be open for public safety.

If the public hears about the way these corporations jeopardize the lives of their workers, things might change.